Chef Emily Williams
s/y Swish

Date interviewed: November 2007, the day after she won the Tortola charter yacht "Best in Show" chef's award.

How did you realize you wanted to become a chef?
I was a stewardess onboard the 65-foot sailing catamaran True North, and our chef won the best entrée contest here on Tortola in 2005. We were great friends who had lived together in Australia, and she really inspired me. Her name was Tiffany McGovern.
     I would help as the sous chef and did the odd thing on charter, maybe a breakfast or a starter, to give her a break. And when the owner was onboard, I would cook more. I learned that I rather liked it.

Why did you decide to work onboard yachts?
I’m from Jersey, in the U.K., the Channel Islands. I attended University in Northampton for English education, to be a teacher. Then I went off sailing in the Pacific at an uncle’s urging. I did that with Euros, my partner, and he’s now Swish’s captain.
     We met Rob and Tiffany there, so when they later called us from the British Virgin Islands to say it was great, we decided to join them. True North was the first boat that Euros and I worked on, from 2005 until July 2007. That’s when they went back to Australia, and we came aboard Swish.

What do you think makes you and Euros special as a crew?
Before, we were stewardess and first mate. Now, we’re responsible. We know what to do and where to go. We’ve seen it a hundred times, and now we get to do it ourselves.
     We had a high level of service on True North because there were four crew with eight guests. Here, we have six or seven guests with two crew, but we’re trying to bring the same level of service. I was thinking that maybe we should drop a few things, but I feel like I’d be cheating the guests. It’s all the little touches that matter.

How do you determine what meals you will prepare for charter guests?
I study the preference sheets that they fill out, and I always phone the guests before the charter. I ask them if they have any special requests, I ask about special occasions, any particular wines. Sometimes they write “red,” so I try to get a bit more from them sometimes.
     After that, I do a menu plan for the whole week, but I don’t show it to them. It’s for provisioning, for my freezer and fridge space. I chop and swap and change things as I go.

What are some of your specialty dishes, or often-requested favorites?
Guests like the hot-and-crunchy mahi-mahi as a main course. I also do a really awesome cider-braised pork tenderloin with apples and pears. My gourmet pizzas, I do them with olives, sundried tomatoes, mozzarella, pepperoni, herbs de provence—I just stack it with yummy things.
     Oh, and chocolate mousse—I cook with high-quality Maya Gold brand, the Green & Black organic dark chocolate from London. The one with orange spices is fantastic, and I like to use the mint one for fondues.

What is a typical day’s menu that a guest might experience onboard Swish?
For breakfast, there’s always a fruit platter, yogurts, that sort of thing, plus something hot and plated like spinach and feta omelets or pancakes. It depends on what the guests want.
     Lunches, I do big salads with seeds, nuts, and fruits, things like gourmet pizzas or crab salads, nothing too heavy. I do a light dessert at lunch, maybe cookies or carrot cake.
     At 5 o’clock we serve cocktails with hors d’oeuvres like crab cakes, shrimp or such. Then for dinner, there’s an entrée and a dessert.

What kind of charter guests are your favorites?
I like families because Swish has a single bed that lets us take a ninth guest, usually a child, instead of the regular eight onboard catamarans the same size.
     But we’ve had everything from honeymooners to groups of friends, and we do like the variety. It keeps our job interesting.

What, if any, awards have you won?
Here at the 2007 charter show on Tortola, I won best starter as well as best chef in the entire show. It’s my first big award, and I just can’t believe it.
     My starter was a plantain-encrusted mahi-mahi with mango and lime aioli, and mango rum salsa. Yesterday, I also won the napkin-folding contest. I made a soldier with a spoon for a head and a knife for a sword.

What else should CharterWave readers know about you and Swish?
We’re very fluent Welsh speakers. Ha!
    Seriously, we do theme nights. We always do a pirate night because the kids love it. And we have a wig night where I’ll give everyone a wig at the table—depending on the crowd, of course, but most people just love it.

Swish is part of the fleet at CharterPortBVI. She takes six or seven guests with two crew at an inclusive weekly rate of $16,950, or about $2,400 per person with a full boat. Contact any reputable charter broker to book.